Accused pastor's financial details emerge

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/25/09

When a man of the cloth makes $40,000 a month, people sit up and pay attention. That's not the church hauling in that dough—that's just the pastor, according to District Attorney records and great reporting by the Ventura County Star. On his website, the Reverend Lonnie McCowan, who is now accused of theft and money laundering, boasted that he makes $900,000 annually! The good reverend, a serial entrepreneur and self-proclaimed marketing... read more »

Water crisis draws DeVore away from next week’s engagement in Ventura County

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/23/09

The special session called in Sacramento to face the ongoing water crisis forced Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who is running to supplant Barbara Boxer as a California senator, to cancel an upcoming engagement at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on Monday. It means more miles traveled for DeVore, who has crisscrossed the state during nearly two hundred campaign stops. Carly Fiorina is expected to make an announcement about her... read more »

DeYoung growing grassroots support

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/23/09

Dennis DeYoung, a certified financial planner who is running for Assembly, is quietly building grassroots support in the San Fernando Valley. Wayne Adelstein, President of the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, and David Honda, the recipient of the Valley's prestigious "Fernando Award" for volunteerism. "Dennis's experience as a successful Certified Financial Planner makes him uniquely qualified to join the economic... read more »

DA Totten to speak at next GOP breakfast

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/20/09

District Attorney Greg Totten will update the Ventura County GOP on law enforcement matters at the final Chairman's Breakfast of the year.  Totten has served Ventura County as a prosecutor since 1982, reaching the position of D.A. in 2002. From 1993 to 1996, he was the executive director of the California District Attorneys Association where he acted as the organization's chief spokesman for its legislative proposals.  The Chairman's... read more »

Building Red Cred – A Closer Look at Whitman’s Advisers

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/19/09

Republican primary voters continue to give Meg Whitman the nod over Steve Poizner in the gubernatorial race, according to last week’s Field Poll, yet almost half of them have yet to make up their minds either because they don’t know anything about the candidates or what they do know makes them nervous about their party pedigree. Republicans are more comfortable with Whitman at the moment, who’s maintained a double-digit lead... read more »

Buying a house now to take advantage of tax credit is foolish

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/14/09

OK, so you get an $8,000 tax credit. Fantastic. Sounds like a great deal, right? As someone who has been perpetually looking for a house, I can tell you that it’s a bad decision to buy a house right now, not just for that reason, but for any reason. First, we’re re-inflating the housing bubble. Interest rates are below 5 percent. The FHA will give you a loan with only 3.5 percent down. Both of these incentives increase the... read more »

Oxnard DMV closed over Columbus Day dispute — did anyone notice?

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/12/09

About half of the state employees that work at the Oxnard DMV office didn’t show up for work today, forcing the office to close prematurely. The SEIU is involved in a dispute with the governor over the status of Columbus Day as an official holiday. Schwarzenegger says that a new contract signed earlier this year excludes Columbus Day from the list of approved holidays, but the SEIU countered that the contract hasn’t yet been... read more »

Boxer's Legislative Record Packs Very Little Punch

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/10/09

There aren’t many competitions where you can lose 99 percent of the time and still be considered a leading contender, but somehow Barbara Boxer is pulling it off. A recent Field Poll has her with a 14-point lead over her closest Republican rival. However, her colleagues in Washington have seen fit to only enact three of the nearly 400 bills the three-term senator has sponsored since she was elected in 1992, raising questions of why the... read more »

Andrews receives Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association endorsement

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/08/09

Congratulations to Councilman Andrews for earning the HJTA endorsement: City Council member Neal Andrews announced today that he had received endorsement by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in his re-election bid for a third term on the Ventura City Council. In its letter of endorsement, Kris Vosburgh of the Jarvis organization described Councilman Andrews as “an excellent representative for taxpayers” whom the Jarvis... read more »

Blind hatred—Glenn Beck pummeled for swine flu debate announcement

By Eric Ingemunson | 10/08/09

As soon as Glenn Beck announced that today’s show is going to focus on the pros and cons of getting the swine flu vaccination, some of his opponents began questioning if Glenn Beck is resorting to fearmongering over the issue. The swine flu sounds like a legitimate topic of debate to me, something I want to know more about. But already he is being called a whacko, a racist, red-baiter, and is being compared to McCarthy by some. Let’s... read more »